Nonglare headlight



March 10, 1925. 1,529,180?

' H. F. HANSEN NONGLARE HEADLIGHT Filed Oct. 17, 1923 WW HFHQ HQ Patented Mar. 10, 1925.

UNITED STATES;

BAT En'r OFFICE.

NoNGIiA-RE HEADLIGHT;

Application filed October 17, 1923. Serial N'o. 669,096;

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY F. H'Ansnma citizen of the United States, residing at Washington in the District of Columbia have invented new'and usefulImprovements. in Nonglare Headlights, of which: the fol lowing is a specification.

This invention relatest'o non=glare headlights foruse on motor cars; its object, briefly stated, being the provisioniofan im proved article of the character indicated which is so constructed that the light rays emitted by the lamp or other source of light are directed forwardly and laterally only, all upward reflection being blocked, where? by the blinding effect ofthelights-on drivers of'othe-r vehicles approaching from the? 0p posite direction is completely avoided;

According to theinvention, the. improved headlight embodies: primarily a; specially constructed reflector unit-which in horizontal section, has the: form: of a semiellipse but which, initransverse-zvertical section, is shaped somewhat like an elongated, horizontally-disposed rectangle, the lower side of which is openvand the corners; of which are more or less bowed or rounded: depending upon the distanceof the section from the front. This element is closed at its;bottom by a flat, semi-elliptic plate which, in a'sense, maybe regarded as'forming thebottom wall or base thereof anchthe said plate, which is removably related to'the" reflector proper and constitutes the true bottonr of the headlightcasing; is suitably'treated to provide a dead-black surface, instead of being polished or silvered, in order to prevent any reflecting action.

Due to this peculiar co-nstruction,-it will be understood; that the light rays will" be reflected horizontally, both directly forward aswell as laterally, by the vertical side wall of the reflector, and. downwardly upon the blackened surfaceof' the plate by the flat top wall and by. the: rounded edge portions of the first--named wall; but, on the other. hand, no upward reflection whatever will take place becausev of the aforesaid blackenedsurface; which will also absorb all rays reflected downward i'ipon it. Hence the light beam projected by the headlight will travel straight aheadata distance-- from the ground too shorttoi-dazzle the eyes of drivers of approachingvt,- hicles, so that one greatcausecfcollisions and other road accidents is therebyrremoved.

An embodimentiof the invention is illus-r trated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure: l is a perspective View of there flector body;

Fig. 2-is a horizontal sectional view'shoW-- ing thesame inhplace; in the headlight casmg. 7

Figs.- 3,141. and 5 are diagrammatic trans verse sections taken one back of another on lines-3:3,- 4-4 and 55 of Fig. 1. I

Fig; 6 is aplan view of theibottom member of the reflector and casing. 3

Fig. 7 is a IEIOIltyViQW o'f theheadl'ighta Referring more particularly to the drawing, the reflector uni-t comprises a body or; reflector proper 9-and a base 10,.thetwo being; separate parts detachably related to each; other, and the base also forming the bottom member of the subsequently-described casing, hereinafter. explained. The reflector bodyhasythe general shape of semi-ellipse in-hori-zontal, longitudinal section and=consists of ahflat horizontaltop wall 9 and a; curved vertical sidewall: 9 aidfbody be-ingconstructed of metal and havingvthe inner surfacesof its walls pol-- ished, silvered: or otherwisewtreated to obtainva reflection action. At the front ofithe reflector bodyj, the meeting edges of the walls 9 and 9 form'a right angle asshown in Fig. 1:; but? at a point about one' inch from ithe' front' they are" slightly rounded, as indicated/in Fig. 3;, and from that point on, the rounding grows more pronounced asw-i'll be understood from Fig. 4,, which is a section taken about two inches to the reari of section 3-3-untila point is reached about an inch" in the rear; of'section 44 wherei-thje lowerred-ge ofwalLQ also becomes curved orv grounded; as shown in Fig." 5, so thatzsa-id wall is there of concavo-convexsection. The curvature from the last-named pointacontinues around the back of the re flector thiszspeci al formation holding true,

of. course; both sides of the" reflector; that is: to say, the reflector-body .is of symmetrical construction, its curvature and the ponent walls 9 has the form of a flat plate, of substantially upper surface to absorb all light rays falling thereon, and on it directly. rests the lower edge of the reflector wall 9 the two plates or walls 9 and 10 thus Raing disposed in spaced, parallel relation. The reflector body and the base plate 10' are removably related, as has already been mentioned, the object being to facilitate access to the lamp 11 and to enable the base plate to be detached, when desired, for cleaning or other purposes. To that end, the reflector body is secured in some suitable manner within the casing 12 ofthe headlight: for instance, by providing the frontedges of its com; and 9 with projecting flanges 9 and 9 which are fastened to the corresponding edges of the top and side walls 12' and 12 of said casing.

The aforesaid casing has the same shape and substantially the same height and width as the reflectorbodyfbut is of somewhat greater depth; and it includes, in addition to the walls 12 and 12 a swingingfront wall or door 12 which is provided with a suitable lens 12 and has a hinge connection 12* at one end with one end of wall 12 of the casing, its other end being detachably clamped to the opposite end of said wall as indicated at 12 'The bottom plate or member 10 which, as previously stated,

is common to the'ca'sing as well as to the reflector body 9, has approximately thesame shape and size as the top wall 12- of the casing and is connected at its rear end to the lower edge of the vertical side wall 12 of the casing at the center thereof by means of a hinge joint 10, the pintle of'which' is preferably removable so that, if desired, the said plate may be completely detached from the casing. At its front end, the plate is.

removably' supported by the front wall or door 12 which is provided upon its inner face with a rib or shoulder 12 to take under the'plate whenthe door is closed; the ar rangement being such that when the door is opened, the plate would tend to swing downward,unless restrained in some manner.' An upstanding, semi-elliptic flange 10 is'finally provided on the plate, adjacent to and parallel with its marginal edge,'which is designed to fit tightly against the inner face of the vertical casing wall 12 and, by reason of such engagement, serves to hold said plate in place.

As will be apparent from'the foregoing, the most important feature of the invention is the obliteration of all upwardly-reflected light rays, leaving only. those projected horizontally, so as to avoid blinding This is accomplished by the conjointaction of.

the reflector body and the non-reflecting plate 10 constructed as above described. The lamp 11, being supported midway between the .top and bottom. walls of the reflector unit,will, of course, cast its rays in all directions, those striking against the vertical side wall 9 of the reflector being reflected horizontally. both forward and laterally, while those. which strike against it will be reflected upward, in contradistinction to the action, so to speak, which takes place in an ordinary conical or semiellipsoidal reflector. On the other hand, all of the rays which fall upon the bottom plate 10, whether projected directly thereagainst by the source of light or'reflected by the top wall or the'bowed or rounded portions of the side wall of the reflector body, and which would ordinarily be re flected upward by the said plate, are com- 1 pletely absorbed by .the blackened surface thereof and, hence, will not emerge from the headlight. Consequently, the' effect of the improved construction is to insure the projection from the headlight of a light beam which travels horizontally forward at a height which is equal to the'distance of the light source from the road, and which maintains such height virtually constant throughout its travel. And since the horizontal plane of the light source in the headlights of an ordinary car is disposed a distance of several feet below the plane of the eyes of the driver, it will be obvious that the light beam will strike a car approaching from the opposite direction at a 1 corresponding distance below the eyes of the driver of the latter car, with a complete'avoida'nce of dazzling or blinding.

' In all other respects, the invention is ber.

lieved to'be apparent from the foregoing, and to require no further explanation.

I claim as my invention:

.1. A non-glare headlight, comprising a casing which is semi-elliptic in horizontal section and substantially rectangular in transverse, vertical section; a reflector unit of approximately the same shape as said casing disposed within the same; a source of light projecting into the interior of the. reflector from the central rear portion thereof; and a base plate constituting a common bottom forthe casing 'and the reflector and connected to the former, said plate having a non-reflecting upper surface; substantially as described.

2. A non-glare headlight, comprising a casing which is semi-elliptical in horizontal section and substantially rectangular in transverse, vertical section; a reflector unit of approximately the same shape as said casing disposed within the same; a source of light projecting into the interior of the reflector from the central rear portion thereof; and a base plate constituting a common bottom for the casing and the reflector and detachably connected to the vertical side of the former, said plate having its upper surface blackened; substantially as described.

3. A non-glare headlight, comprising a casing; a reflector disposed therewithin and embodying side and top walls; a source of light in said casing; a base plate substantially parallel with the top wall of the reflector, and constituting a common bottom for the casing and the reflector whereon the lower edges of the side walls of the reflector normally directly rest, said base plate having a non-reflecting upper surface and being removably connected to said casing, but devoid of connection with said reflector to permit the latter to be withdrawn bodily from the casing.

4. A non-glare headlight, comprising a casing embodying a side wall and a top wall; a reflector unit disposed therewithin; a source of light in said casing; a base plate constituting a common bottom for the casing and the reflector unit but structurally separate from both said parts, and having a non-reflecting upper surface, said plate be ing hinged to the lower edge of the side wall of the casing so as to swing downward into open position and thereby permit the reflector unit to be Withdrawn bodily from the casing; and means for detachably connecting said base plate in horizontal, closed position.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

HARRY F. HANSEN. 

